Deception Detected
Cloud’s day was far from over after his test flight ended. While Serenity went to fill out the paperwork on the flight he flew over to a store in downtown Ponyville. The store was located in a green two-story building decorated with a sign showing two flowers and it sold all kinds of plants to the residents of Ponyville.
It was run by three ponies nicknamed around town as the “Flower Trio” because flowers as one might expect were their specialties; Rose, Lily, and Daisy. But Cloud wasn’t here for any tasty tulips or pretty roses. No, he was here for a different kind of vegetation.
The green pegasus trotted through the main portion of the store into a greenhouse area in the back. As he entered it the smell of racks of fresh flowers awaiting planting licked at his nose. Cloud continued to look and in the back of the greenhouse found what he was looking for, fruit tree seedlings.
There was a whole row of them with various fruit offerings. Peaches, pears, cherries, and others all sat before him, each in a small pot filled with a little soil. None of the trees were more than a foot high if that. And then he saw the one he wanted, a little apple tree.
“This is perfect,” Cloud said as he picked up the pot with his wings and headed back into the store to complete the purchase.
He hoped the little seedling was destined for greatness. He had to do something for Applejack after landing that punch on her in Canterlot. This offering to replace that tree she lost to a wind storm would hopefully do the trick. Twenty bits later he trotted out the door and made his way back toward Sunny Rays and Serenity’s home to get back to studying. He’d give this tree to Applejack tomorrow.
-------
For Rainbow Dash when it came to background checks there was only one pony to turn to when she wanted one done. She knew exactly where to fly and who to see, she only hoped she wasn’t too busy with work today following that layoff for the wedding most of them were trying to catch off for.
Rainbow was capable of shattering the sound barrier with ease but when it came to flying within Ponyville city limits she usually kept it at a more reasonable pace. With no storms scheduled it wasn’t like she was in a hurry anyway.
As the blue pegasus looped around the town windmill the Golden Oaks Library came into view. Rainbow knew this could be fun. She took aim at Twilight Sparkle’s residence…and buzzed around it as tight, loud, and as fast as she could. The response from Twilight was about what she expected when her studies were disturbed as the purple mare threw open a window.
“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted, an iced coffee stain now on the front of her purple coat.
Rainbow had a naughty smile across her face. It had been too long since she buzzed the library in a deliberate attempt to mess with Twi. Her Wonderbolt Academy training would have to wait though as she reached her destination. She came in alongside an office with a large sign that read “Pon-ID Security Services” and landed. She then trotted right past it up to the front door of Sugar Cube Corner and entered the sweet shop. Pinkie Pie knew everypony in town better than anypony else, she was a natural to do this.
As Rainbow entered the eatery the sweet smell of fresh sugar cookies hung in the air. Mrs. Cake was at the counter as she usually was handing a frothy pink cherry drink to a pink earth pony with a yellow mane and a cherry cutie mark. Dash passed her by as she finished the transaction.
“Hey Mrs. Cake, Pinkie around?” Rainbow asked.
“She’s in the back Dash,” Mrs. Cake responded. “You might want to give her a minute while she finishes frosting those cookies.”
As Rainbow trotted into the kitchen Pinkie was indeed finishing off that fresh batch of sugar cookies hot from the oven. She was just finishing them off by giving the pink frosted cookies a splash of Luster Dust to put a sparkling gold star to each. As the pink pony completed the last one and placed the Luster Dust container off to the side she noticed her friend had arrived.
“Hey Rainbow,” Pinkie said, her voice speeding up as she went. “That’s so awesome that you came by. I’ve got two parties later for June Bug’s second-place in the Los Pegasus flower show, shame it rained the whole time she was out there…”
“Pinkie,” Rainbow chimed in.
“…and Lilac Links’s acceptance to compete in the Vanhoover rodeo,” Pinkie continued even faster.
“Pinkie,” Rainbow tried again.
“…and then I got another tomorrow because Cranky popped the question and Matilda said…”
“PINKIE!” Rainbow finally butted in. “I need your help.”
“Well why didn’t you say so,” Pinkie responded. “What do you need Rainbow?”
“Pinkie you know everypony in town and I need a background check on a new guy,” Rainbow said.
“Background check huh?” Pinkie asked. “Oh! Oh! I can do that!”
Pinkie darted away at lightning speed and instantly came back wearing a dark blue security guard hat with an official looking ID badge tapped to her front. She had a huge smile on her face.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Pinkie said. “Oh wait, I’m supposed to be serious for this.”
Instantly she dropped her smile in a failing attempt to look tough. She tried to talk in a gruffer voice.
“Now who seems to be the problem ma’am,” Pinkie said blowing her attempt to be tough with a slight giggle afterward.
“I’ve got an applicant for one of my open weather jobs but something doesn’t seem right with his paperwork,” Rainbow said. “He’s got a weather-themed cutie mark but no prior weather experience.”
Pinkie’s face lit up at the revelation.
“A new guy?” Pinkie said excited. “Oh! Oh! Who is it? Is it Flash Sentry?”
“Huh?” Rainbow asked. “Who’s Flash Sentry?”
“You don’t know?” Pinkie said with a smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll find out later.”
“Yeah, ah, anyway,” Rainbow tried to steer the conversation back on topic. “The stallion in question is Cloud Breaker. Green guy, orange mane and tail, blue eyes.”
Rainbow pulled Cloud’s application from under her wing and placed it on the counter by Pinkie. The party girl looked it over in about a second.
“Oh I know him,” Pinkie said.
The pink earth pony darted over to a cabinet in the kitchen and opened a random drawer revealing a long list of files, she must have had one for everypony in Ponyville.
“You keep those in the kitchen?” Rainbow asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Pinkie responded.
She proceeded to scroll through all of the files to find the one she wanted.
“Let’s see, Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, here we are! Cloud Breaker,” Pinkie said.
With her mouth she pulled his file and flipped it onto the counter where it popped open and slide over to Rainbow. As Rainbow began to look it over Pinkie said what she knew about Cloud.
“Cloud was one of seven ponies who arrived in Ponyville last month but all of them except Sweetcream Scoops were just visiting for a few weeks,” Pinkie said. “I tried to throw all the visitors a party but they wouldn’t go for it. Something about staying private or something, seemed liked they were always around Sugarcube Corner or the Carousel Boutique or the library or Sweet Apple Acres or places like that anyway though. None of them were really talkative but he was in here like everyday to have a cupcake or something small.”
“If he was so private why did he come to Sugarcube Corner everyday?” Rainbow wondered out loud.
“Sunny said he was staying with her, both before and after Serenity proposed,” Pinkie said.
“I know that,” Rainbow said.
“He’s supposed to be a weather pony from Neighagra Falls from what I heard, he was taking a little break from to see Equestria and hanging around Ponyville because of all the action we’ve been stirring up of late,” Pinkie said.
One of Rainbow’s eyebrows raised itself at that.
“Hold up,” Rainbow said. “He said he already was a weather pony and yet he didn’t list that or any other weather experience on his resume. Pinkie, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
“Why do Cloud Kicker and Cloud Breaker spell their names with a space but Cloudchaser doesn’t?” Pinkie asked. “And why did that last question you asked sound sort of familiar?”
Rainbow rolled her magenta eyes.
“Anyway he and all those other ponies left at the end of their time here to go to the wedding in Canterlot,” Pinkie said. “They said they were invited, unlike all those fans in the courtyard, but I didn’t see him or any of the others there at all. None of them said they were coming back but he did anyway.”
“He was supposed to be in Canterlot for the wedding but didn’t show?” Rainbow asked, that made little sense but wait didn’t he say something to her about that wedding.
“And I wanted to congratulate you on your performance this weekend saving the royal wedding and all of Equestria,” Cloud said. “You were awesome in that fight with all those changelings, err, from what I’ve heard.”
She continued to think to herself. Why’d he add that last part about “from what I’ve heard” like he was explicitly trying to say he wasn’t there with the changelings.
Rainbow thought about the battle. The changelings could turn into anypony and they all created such perfect copies of herself and her friends during the fight. They even had Twilight’s voice and her mild ego down pat although they seemed to focus more on appearance than getting into character.
They could have gotten the appearance stuff from newspapers, her awesomeness had gotten all of them in the news a lot lately, but that didn’t explain the voices or personalities… unless they had a spy to find that in advance. And with several ponies to spy on they could send several spies, split the job up, and they’d be practically unnoticeable. But then how would such a spy leave without anypony knowing they were a spy? Then it clicked.
You could say you were leaving for the wedding and not coming back then rejoin the army and launch the attack. That’s why Cloud and those ponies that arrived at the same time were so private! No experience and no past weather lessons despite a weather themed name, suddenly it made sense. Cloud was a changeling… but she didn’t have proof. Still what if Serenity and Sunny didn’t know? The last thing she needed was two more pegasi down for the count with her employment numbers. She had to do something.
“Oh man, Cloud Breaker could be a changeling!” Rainbow said.
“Huh?” Pinkie asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Rainbow said. “It’s a long story but I’m pretty sure he’s a changeling in disguise.”
“Ai-yai-yai-yai-yai!" Pinkie responded, perhaps not realizing the full weight of that statement. “OH! If he is we could do a disguise-themed party, he’d be a hit with all his morphing and I could use this new Fluttershy costume I just made that’s…”
“Pinkie this is serious, he’s rooming with two of my employees who just got engaged,” Rainbow said. “We’ve got to get Twilight and hustle over there pronto. If I’m right Sunny and Serenity are in big danger. With what those two love birds have been up to lately he’s probably sucking them both dry right now to power up for revenge against us. Come on!”
Both mares darted out the door. Rainbow could only hope she was wrong. But if she wasn’t she found herself wondering why Cloud Breaker would apparently lie about being a weather pony when he first arrived then recant and tell the truth he wasn’t on his job application. She would have checked and found that out anyway but why didn’t he keep up the appearance of his lie so he didn’t give himself away? Why did he apply honestly?
_____
Back at Sunny and Serenity’s all three pegasi were gathered around the kitchen table. Sunny Rays had a map out to plot the most effective route for a rainstorm next week that was due in both Dodge Junction and the MacIntosh Hills. With his new Sweet Apple Acres-bound tree sitting in a window sill Cloud Breaker was next to her with his snout back into one of the books he borrowed from Twilight. Serenity had the stove on trying to prepare a rice pilaf with hay broth and bell peppers. The topic of discussion was the test flight.
“He clocked in at 47 seconds,” Serenity said. “Not perfect but overall solid. I gave him a good write up, he earned it.”
“That’s not bad, with some effort we should be able to cut that time by at least 25 percent,” Sunny responded.
Cloud smiled. He was raw but his life was finally going in the right direction. Then there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” Sunny said.
The yellow mare got up from her map and hovered over to the entrance of her house. She peeked through her peephole to see a familiar blue face and rainbow mane. Sunny rolled her eyes.
“Serenity, you might want to make another portion or two,” Sunny shouted to the other room. “Rainbow Dash is here.”
Serenity shrugged and started cutting up another bell pepper with a knife he held in his teeth. Cloud closed his book, he wondered if this was about his performance today. Sunny opened the door.
“Oh hey Rainbow, dropping by unannounced for dinner again?” Sunny asked, now noticing Twilight and Pinkie were with her. “Nice of you to bring your friends but if you’d told me you all were coming by sooner we could have made more food.”
“This isn’t about dinner Sunny,” Rainbow said sternly. “Is Cloud Breaker here?”
“He’s in the kitchen with Serenity,” Sunny said. “Why? If this is work related why not wait until the morning?”
“It’s not work related,” Rainbow responded. “You may want to wait out here Sunny; you never know what his type will do when surprised.”
“His type?” Sunny asked, quickly she realized what just happened. “Oh, horse apples.”
A blue streak darted through Sunny’s living room into her kitchen. It came to a halt right in Sunny’s seat.
“So Cloud Breaker when in the application process were you going to tell me about the fact you’re really a changeling?” Rainbow asked.
Cloud’s jaw dropped harder than a piano entrusted to Derpy for delivery. The look on his face confirmed Rainbow’s suspicions as Twilight, Pinkie and Sunny caught up.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,019 users online
159,143 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Flash Sentry and Pinky & the Brain references?
Ordinarily, I'd think a writer would only use that to compensate for something. But at least you managed to fill the rest of the chapter with self-contained content. So I can't be mad at you.
2874010
I'm glad you aren't mad.
I wrote both of those references in mainly because I thought they fit with Pinkie just being Pinkie. She's such a wildcard, that's why I put her in. I'm not going to do a lot of outside stuff like that in the rest of the fic though. Next time the truth is out, how's everypony going to react...
Now I am...
End of chapter: Oh snap!!!
Cant wait for the next update.... need to know.... *brainwashed voice* MOAR PONIEZZZZZzzzzz.
I think so, Dashie, but where are we going to get clogs at this time of night?
Ooooh wickedly sneaky bypassing all the obvious identity checkers and going right for the horse with the source.
I also noticed in the flashback Rainbow had;
“He was supposed to be in Canterlot for the wedding but didn’t show?” Rainbow asked, that made little sense but wait didn’t he say something to her about that wedding?
“And I wanted to congratulate you on your performance this weekend saving the royal wedding and all of Equestria,” Cloud said. “You were awesome in that fight with all those changelings, err, from what I’ve heard.”
Flashbacks are usually in italics or similar to make it stand out. I hope that helps.
2880185
Italics were always the intent but I had formatting issues. I worked through them though and it has been remedied (as was the same problem back in Chapter 7). Thanks for the heads up and I'm glad you are enjoying the fic.
Boldly foreseeing Pinkie Rainbow! Did we call that or what? I'm surprised if no one else thought so...